Leadframe assemblies for electrical connectors are well-known. A typical leadframe assembly includes a dielectric leadframe housing and a leadframe comprising a plurality of electrical contacts extending therethrough. An insert-molded leadframe assembly (IMLA) may be manufactured according to a process wherein a leadframe is stamped from a sheet of electrically-conductive material, and a dielectric material is insert-molded over the leadframe.
Typically, the electrical contacts within a leadframe assembly are arranged into a linear array that extends along a direction along which the leadframe housing is elongated. The contacts may be arranged edge-to-edge along the direction along which the linear array extends. It may be desirable to form differential signal pairs wherein the contacts that form the pair are broadside-coupled (i.e., arranged in different planes such that the broadside of one contact faces the broadside of the other contact with which it forms the pair). Broadside coupling is often desirable as a mechanism to control (e.g., minimize or eliminate) skew between the contacts that form the differential signal pair.
Typically, such broadside-coupled signal pairs are formed in an electrical connector by placing two IMLAs side by side. Thus, a first contact in a first IMLA may be positioned adjacent to a first contact in a second IMLA such that respective broadsides of each contact face one another. An example of a split-IMLA configuration for broadside-coupled electrical contacts may be found in U.S. patent application no. (FCI-2735) now U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,873, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
To manufacture such an electrical connector, a separate leadframe is typically stamped for each IMLA. Respective dielectric housings are then insert-molded separately onto each of the leadframes. The leadframe assembly/IMLAs may be connected to one another or separate from one another. The leadframe assemblies are then inserted into a connector housing that holds them in place.
It is usually desirable to maintain a desired impedance between the contacts the form a pair, and to maintain a constant differential impedance profile along the lengths of the contacts from their mating ends to their mounting ends. Accordingly, it is usually desirable to align the broadsides of the contacts as nearly as possible with one another, and to maintain the distance between the broadsides of the contacts to within as small a tolerance as possible. It would be desirable to increase the efficiency of such manufacturing process, thereby reducing cost, while improving tolerance control to improve signal integrity.